The object of my present invention involves novel improvements in carving and cutting, tools which greatly increase material removal rates, ease difficult contouring operations, extend tool cutting edge life and allow simplified sharpening of the tool cutting edge by anyone with average skills, these properties being heretofore inadequate.
Conventional carving and cutting tools require the brute force of the operator to push and guide tools through materials, thereby minimizing material removal rates and straining the operator. Conventional carving and cutting tools tend to dull often due to their minimal cutting edge length. Conventional carving and cutting tools have difficulty in producing pockets, cavities and depressions with rounded corners. Conventional carving and cutting tools tend to jam or get stuck in materials due to their cutting edge geometry. Another drawback of conventional carving and cutting tools relates to the difficulty in restoring the cutting edge to an adequate sharpness, which can require expensive equipment and which restoration is difficult and frustrating.
To an understanding of the nature of my invention and its basic distinctions from the carving and cutting tools of common use, it is necessary to explain some principles and properties upon which my tool is designed.
My invention utililizes the concept of kinetic energy, whereby the mass of the tool in motion effects a great material removal rate compared to conventional carving and cutting tools, and imposes minimal strain on the operator. In simple terms, an ax or hammer type swing is used to impact the material being worked.
By having a choice of many various diameters and weights of interchangeable cutting heads, an operator can attain a wide range of material removal rates, and can also create many different contours with corner radii equal to radius of the selected cutting head.
My tool incorporates a cutting head having a convex outside shape which acts as a depth control device, thereby guiding the cutting edge into, through, and out of the material being cut, during the cutting process, which reduces jamming of the tool in the material being worked.
My tool has a concave hemispherical cutting head which allows the use of 360 degrees of the cutting head edge, thereby extending cutting edge life and providing unique opportunities such as producing pockets, depressions and cavities with rounded corners.
The inside of the cutting head, which is a concave hemispherical shape, provides a 180 degree arc contour for chips to follow during cutting, thereby expelling chips efficiently from the interior of the cutting head.
By pushing or pulling the tool across the material being cut, using a scraping motion, one can produce various groove contours while also achieving good material removal rates.
Another advantage of my invention is a very simple means of restoring the cutting edge sharpness by utilizing an appropriate arbor to mount the cutting head to a drill motor, then rotating the cutting head while bringing the cutting edge of the cutting head into contact with abrasive cloth or paper tangent to the inner and outer cutting edge faces, thereby restoring the cutting edge to an adequate sharpness.